Former President, John Dramani Mahama has said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the structural defects in Africa’s economic paradigm.

In a Facebook post commemorating Africa Day, the former President said the occasion calls for the need for Africa to commit to achieving the objectives of #Agenda2063, a strategic framework aimed at ensuring inclusion and sustainable development.

The former President, however, believes that with “innovative leadership and a belief in especially our enterprising and dynamic young people, we can and we should turn the wheels of the African Economy back on track.”

Ghana currently has 6,617 confirmed cases of Coronavirus.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are 100,000 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Africa with 31,000 confirmed deaths on the vast continent.

Below is the former President’s Facebook post

Nine years ago, I joined my colleague Heads of State in Addis Ababa to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our Continental Union, the African Union.

We adopted #Agenda2063 as our blueprint for transforming our continent into a future significant global partner.

Today across our continent, as we celebrate #AfricaDay, we must dedicate ourselves as a people and governments towards realising the objectives of #Agenda2063 and building #TheAfricaWeWant.

COVID-19 has exposed the structural weaknesses of our economic paradigm as exporters of primary goods and importers of finished products.

But with innovative leadership and a belief in especially our enterprising and dynamic young people, we can and we should turn the wheels of the African Economy back on track.